who are righteous before God
The term "righteous" in Greek is "δίκαιοι" (dikaioi), which refers to being just or right in the eyes of God. In the conservative Christian perspective, righteousness is not self-derived but is a status granted by God. This righteousness is not about legalistic adherence but about a heart aligned with God's will. Historically, the Jewish audience would have understood righteousness in terms of covenant faithfulness, but Paul redefines it in light of the gospel, where true righteousness is a matter of faith and obedience.

but it is the doers of the law
The Greek word for "doers" is "ποιηταί" (poiētai), which means those who perform or execute. This implies an active, ongoing practice of the law, not a one-time action. In the scriptural context, this aligns with Jesus' teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, where He emphasizes the spirit of the law over the letter. The historical context reveals that this was a radical shift from the prevailing Jewish thought, which often focused on ritualistic observance. Paul is advocating for a faith that manifests in tangible actions, reflecting a life transformed by the gospel.

who will be declared righteous
The phrase "declared righteous" comes from the Greek "δικαιωθήσονται" (dikaiōthēsontai), which is a future passive indicative verb, indicating a future action performed by God. This declaration is a legal term, akin to a judge pronouncing a verdict. In the conservative Christian view, this points to justification, a core doctrine where believers are declared righteous through faith in Christ. This is not based on human merit but on Christ's atoning work. Historically, this was a profound assurance for early Christians, who faced persecution and needed the certainty of their standing before God. The future tense underscores the eschatological hope that believers hold, looking forward to the final vindication at the last judgment.

Hearers of the law.--Strictly (as above), hearers of law--i.e., those who have a law to which they can listen, and by which they may be guided. (Comp. Acts 13:27; Acts 15:21, "Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath"; and for the opposition between hearing and doing, James 1:22-23; James 1:25.)

(1) Ὁ νόμος, with the article prefixed, always means the Mosaic Law.

(2) Νόμος, without the article, may have, and often has, specific reference to the Mosaic Law; but, if so, the emission of the article is not arbitrary, but involves a difference of meaning. The article in Greek is prefixed to a word when the latter is intended to convey some definite idea already familiarized to the mind, and "the natural effect of its presence is to divert the thoughts from dwelling on the peculiar import of the word, and is adverse to its inherent notion standing out as a prominent point in the sense of the passage" (quoted from 'Grammar of the New Testament Dialect,' by T. S. Green, in Appendix to Introduction to Romans in the 'Speaker's Commentary '). Hence the omission of the article, where it might have been used, before a word has often the effect of emphasizing and drawing attention to the inherent notion of the word. We may take as an instance ver. 17 in this chapter, where the Textus Receptus has ἐπαναπαύῃ τῷ νόμῳ but where the preferable reading omits the article. In either case the Mosaic Law is referred to; but the omission of the article brings into prominence the principle of justification on which the Jew rested - viz. Law, which exacts entire obedience. In the following verse (the eighteenth), in the phrase, κατηχούμενος ἐκ τοῦ νόμου the article is inserted, the intention being simply to say that the Jew was instructed in the well-known Law of Moses. The same difference of meaning is intimated by the omission or insertion of the article in ver. 23 and elsewhere in other parts of the chapter and of the whole Epistle (see especially ch. 7.). The apostle, who, however spontaneous and unstudied might be his style of writing, by no means used phrases at random, would not surely have thus varied his expressions so often in one and the same sentence without intended significance.

(3) Νόμος without the article seems evidently in many passages to be used by St. Paul to denote law in the abstract, without any exclusive reference to the Mosaic Law at all, or to any particular code of law. Doubtless the Mosaic Law, in which he had been educated, and which he had painfully proved the impossibility of keeping perfectly, had been to him the grand embodiment and representative of law; but he had hence been led to an abstract conception, ever before his mind, of law as representing the principle of exaction of full obedience to requirements; and when he says, as he so often does, that by law no man can be justified, he means that none can be so on the principle of complete conformity being required to the behests of Divine righteousness, whether as revealed from Mount Sinai or through the human conscience, or in any other way; for by law is the knowledge of sin and consequent guilt, but not the power of avoiding sin. Those who ignore the distinction as above explained, saying, as some do, that νόμος, whether with or without the article, always means simply the Law of Moses, fail to enter into the depth and generality of the apostle's argument. The distinction will be observed in this translation throughout the Epistle (ὁ νόμος being translated "the Law," and νόμος "law"), and it will be found always to have a meaning. (For one instance in which it is hardly possible to suppose St. Paul to have omitted and inserted the article in the same sentence without a meaning, cf. Galatians 4:21.)

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